Comic Strips

In a change of policy, the New York Times' venerable Week in Review section will go from running a round-up of editorial cartoons on the topics of the week to specially commissioned work. Among those tapped, Brian McFadden, creator of Big Fat Whale. McFadden is 27 and lives in Massachusetts, giving the section a younger perspective, to say the least.

In a blog post, Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams reveals himself as a male-basher who thinks all men need to be castrated to ensure a smoothly running society because all they want to do is rape and tweet pictures of their junk to co-eds:

This year's Reuben awards weekend -- the traditional yearly gathering of traditional comic strip cartoonists -- saw some special guests from the webcomics world specially invited, like Kate Beaton, Randall Munroe, and Scott Kurtz. Kurtz has written up the weekend in an absolute must read on the changing of the guard from a world where creators live by the structured patronage of big media companies in exchange for exclusivity, to a much more fluid world where entrepreneurship is as important as content and living by your wits is literally the way to the big payoff.

The 2011 Reuben Awards for the best in cartooning and related fields were presented at the annual National Cartoonists Society meeting on Saturday. Richard Thompson beat out Glen Keane and Stephan Pastis for THE Reuben as cartoonist of the year. Jill Thompson won the Comic Book category for BEASTS OF BURDEN, and Joyce Farmer won the graphic novel category for SPECIAL EXITS, while Jeff Parker and Steve Kelley's DUSTIN won for best comic strip.

Ah... Memorial Day approaches, and with it, summer vacation. Day after day of nothing which must be done, but full of possibilities! Maybe an escape to the air-conditioned refuge of your local library. Perhaps a day spent on the porch, sipping something cold and sinful (I prefer Brown Cows, served in a large ice tea glass). Or maybe hiding away up in a hayloft, or deep in a cool root cellar, where no one can find you. Whatever your preference, there's nothing like a good book to make you forget the world around you. Below are some suggestions for your summer reading pleasures. (And if you need a nap to avoid the afternoon heat, give your kids something to read. It'll keep them quiet long enough for you to recharge your batteries.)

Matt Seneca reminds us of something that needs to be said often.

by BRADY RUSSELL -- Philadelphia recently hosted an exhibition called "This is a Love Letter," of notes and drawings by Charles Schulz to a mistress in Philadelphia. The show was held at SPACE 1026, an artist space and gallery connected in its own way to comics history. Founded by young artists from Providence, SPACE 1026 was founded to be Philadelphia's own Fort Thunder. The gallery and workspace at 10th and Arch Street has been going more than 10 years. SPACE 1026 is one of the most interesting forces in Philadelphia's art scene.

Via Robot 6, word that Heritage is auctioning off an early strip by Charles Schulz that would appear to be part of a developmental period between Lil' Folks and Peanuts, which launched in 1950.

Via Robot 6, word that Heritage is auctioning off an early strip by Charles Schulz that would appear to be part of a developmental period between Lil' Folks and Peanuts, which launched in 1950.

Comic strip historian and pioneer Bill Blackbeard has died at age 84, it has been reported. Blackbeard had been in a nursing home for some years, and passed away on March 10th. As the outpourings of appreciations have shown, Blackbeard was, perhaps more than any other individual, responsible for the emergence of comic strips and (by extension) comic books as a legitimate source of art to be treasured and preserved on an institutional level.

After 107 entries, writer/tweeter Roger Ebert ha finally won The New Yorker's cartoon caption contest, Robert Mankoff reports. He also notes that it akes practice to make perfect:

Editorial cartoonist Mike Keefe of the Denver Post has won this year's Pulizter Prize for cartooning. He won the 2011 John Fischetti Editorial Cartoon Competition earlier this year so he is on a roll. His home paper reacts here. A complete list of winners can be found here.